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Formerly known as food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the most important anti-hunger initiative in America. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), SNAP provided food security to about 41.5 million people in 2021, with an average benefit of $218.14 per person.
Recipients use Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to receive funds and make purchases, and they can use those cards to buy a whole lot more than just standard groceries.
We have a big problem with those Gov. issued welfare cards in Mass. There was an investigation several years back that showed all kinds of fraud taking place from the ATM at the strip club to the ATM at Disneyworld. There were also stores that were busted that used to sell banned items like Booze and Cigarettes for 50 cents on the dollar. We also have fraud where people have several cards and illegal aliens getting them as well.
Our then Governor, Deval Patrick, when questioned about the fraud and possibly tightening up the restrictions to combat the fraud by doing something as simple as putting a photo of the owner on the card he said that the people on welfare already live with enough shame and putting their photo on the card would make this worse. What? So someone that has the card, anyone can use that card with no issue? Our State Government is so Free with our Tax money.
This is the kind of stuff that's been laying waste to the culture and work ethic of this great nation. I understand we need a social safety net, but to have 1 out of 8 Americans on food stamps is obscene, especially considering the nation's obesity rate. We buy their junk food, and then pay all their medical bills when the junk food starts killing them.
We have a big problem with those Gov. issued welfare cards in Mass. There was an investigation several years back that showed all kinds of fraud taking place from the ATM at the strip club to the ATM at Disneyworld. There were also stores that were busted that used to sell banned items like Booze and Cigarettes for 50 cents on the dollar. We also have fraud where people have several cards and illegal aliens getting them as well.
Our then Governor, Deval Patrick, when questioned about the fraud and possibly tightening up the restrictions to combat the fraud by doing something as simple as putting a photo of the owner on the card he said that the people on welfare already live with enough shame and putting their photo on the card would make this worse. What? So someone that has the card, anyone can use that card with no issue? Our State Government is so Free with our Tax money.
It is all such a scam.
Over the years many states have had high rates of abuse for these social programs. It's frustrating. We should be able to have systems that are safety nets for people that aren't so easily subject to abuse..
This is the kind of stuff that's been laying waste to the culture and work ethic of this great nation. I understand we need a social safety net, but to have 1 out of 8 Americans on food stamps is obscene, especially considering the nation's obesity rate. We buy their junk food, and then pay all their medical bills when the junk food starts killing them.
Preferably charity would be private and voluntarily funded, but at a minimum such schemes need to be taken away from the fed govt and handed to states and localities to manage.
This all ends when the US ends.
This is the kind of stuff that's been laying waste to the culture and work ethic of this great nation. I understand we need a social safety net, but to have 1 out of 8 Americans on food stamps is obscene, especially considering the nation's obesity rate. We buy their junk food, and then pay all their medical bills when the junk food starts killing them.
We implement these systems and then never fix them or try to fix the problems. Isn't that the complaint with social housing/project. People were funneled into these communities with no real programs to help them move up in the world.
I think we've become lazy as a society or as a governing body. We should be able to find tune the systems to provide the help they need without being subject to so much abuse .
Preferably charity would be private and voluntarily funded, but at a minimum such schemes need to be taken away from the fed govt and handed to states and localities to manage.
This all ends when the US ends.
IIRC, the fast food industry lobbied long and hard to get that. They used the why should economically disadvantaged people not be able to have a meal out. It worked.
We implement these systems and then never fix them or try to fix the problems. Isn't that the complaint with social housing/project. People were funneled into these communities with no real programs to help them move up in the world.
I think we've become lazy as a society or as a governing body. We should be able to find tune the systems to provide the help they need without being subject to so much abuse .
A lot of those housing projects you are referring to were crime ridden hell scapes. At least that's how they were described in a documentary I watched on the subject a decade or more ago. In this documentary, they interviewed people who originally lived in these communities. By the way they described it, they were very unhappy places to live, full of gangs and drugs. No good paying business wants to locate in the middle of an urban war zone.
I'm no expert in social welfare programs and such, but what I do know is not pretty. I also know people who were on these programs, and how their lives turned out. A lot of them, not for the better. A lot of suicides, and drug overdoses. You would think they would be happier with the state paying their bills, but it doesn't look that way to me. I think many of these people don't value themselves when they can't make it on their own, and then they start valuing their lives less and less as they become comfortable in that state of existence.
I think there is value in the pride we feel when we make it on our own. I think that's the best medicine for many of these people who are stuck in a lifestyle/pattern of being perpetually down and out, and reliant on the state.
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